198 FOSSIL MEN. 



cruelty. The god and the demon were combined in 

 these races, but there was nothing of the mere brute. 



Riviere remarks, with expression of surprise, the 

 same contradictory points in the Mentone skeleton. 

 Its grand development of brain-case, and high facial 

 angle, even higher apparently than in most of these 

 ancient skulls, combined with other characters which 

 indicate a low type and barbarous modes of life. 



Another point which strikes us in reading the 

 descriptions, and which deserves the attention of 

 those who have access to the skeletons, is 'the indica- 

 tion which they seem to present of an extreme lon- 

 gevity. The massive proportions of the body, the 

 great development of the muscular processes, the 

 extreme wearing of the teeth, among a people who 

 predominantly lived on flesh, and not on grain, the 

 obliteration of the sutures of the skull, along with 

 indications of slow ossification of the ends of the long 

 bones, point in this direction, and seem to indicate a 

 slow maturity and great length of life in this most 

 primitive race. 



The picture would be incomplete did we not add 

 that in France and Belgium, in the immediately suc- 

 ceeding or Eeindeer age, these gigantic and magni- 

 ficent men seem to have been superseded by a feebler 

 race of smaller stature and with shorter heads ; so that 

 we have, even in these oldest days, the same contrasts, 

 already so often referred to as occurring in the races 

 of the north of Europe and the north of America in 

 historical times 



